The 9 Working Principles of Mindfulness that You Should Know

Here at Attune Press, we believe that mindfulness is training yourself to pay attention to the present moment as it happens. When a person is mindful, they’re able to focus on the present moment and are not affected by the past or future about anything.

We spend so much time thinking over stuff that happens, or cause ourselves to be anxious on things we’re unable to foresee, that made us forget to appreciate what we have, which is, right now.

These 9 mindfulness working principles can help us live our life more happily and productively. If we put these principles into good use, we’re able to reflect on our everyday actions and how to improve them.

Therefore, these principles underlie key practical techniques that can help us achieve and maintain mindfulness at both life and work.

1) Begin Everyday in Stillness

When was the last time you had a quiet and peaceful morning?

Have things been haywire and you find yourself overwhelmed in the situation? Perhaps you have project deadlines to meet today, or your boss demands a report after lunch.

All this hecticness make our lives less mindful. What you can do is to start the day with something that soothes your mind. It could be meditation, hitting the gym, going for a swim or preparing your favourite snack.

“More haste, less speed.”

Rushing and producing work that’s not done efficiently, is considered as half-assed work. The key is to have a sense of urgency and initiative to prepare for it. Stillness is an important part of mindfulness and it’s a portal to inner calm and focus as well as to success. When we’re not in a calm and relaxed state, we do things hurriedly and this causes unsatisfactory work.

2) Separate the Components of Work with Pauses

It’s common to get distracted, especially if our work revolves working in a fixed space with a computer in front of you. It’s almost impossible to focus 100% every minute of the day. However, to eliminate most of the distraction and being able to re-direct our focus is to separate the components of work with pauses.

How do we do that?

The most basic technique is to rest our eyes.

If you’ve been working on something for more than 40 minutes, divert your eyes to a scenery of green, or simply close your eyes for 10 seconds. This helps you to stay in the present and re-energise.

Going for toilet and coffee breaks also help us to practice mindfulness. These pauses between activities are natural and necessary and one can surely benefit in order to stay attentive and motivated throughout the day.

3) Set Deadlines and Goals to Meet

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We can easily neglect our duties if we’re tired or absent-minded. This in turn makes it difficult for us to stay mindful. We’re guilty in one way or another in convincing our minds that we have more time than we actually have to complete our duties.

We’re blinded by the sketch we put into our minds that we can complete this tomorrow or another time. We tell ourselves, ‘There’s still time’, but the time we thought we had eventually runs out and we find ourselves desperate for more.

A useful method to stay mindful is to set deadlines in each of our duties and the goals we plan to achieve either by the end of the day or the week. This keeps us from wasting time and helps us to stay ahead of working towards what we need to accomplished.

4) Stop with the Self-Pity and Negativity

It’s all too easy to get stuck in the rut of feeling sorry for yourself. Bad things happen to all of us at some point, and life can be unfair.

But you would’ve realised that sitting around and feeling sorry for yourself is not the answer. It could even lead you to miss out on opportunities that’re given to you during such moments. As such, you’re the only one who can take those all-important first steps down the road to change your life.

It’s okay to feel sad and frustrated. But it’s not okay when it starts to make you feel bad about yourself. Or worse, threaten with your well-being and cause your relationships to deteriorate. Change your perspective, and your whole world will start to change. Start to focus on the positive aspects of your life, and you can start by listing your blessings everyday and what you’re truly thankful for.

5) No Other Time and Place is Real

By focusing our attention on where our mind and body is right now, at this moment, can we realise that our only reality is this moment, as it is. And nothing can change that.

When we truly connect and experience the present moment as it is, we are unveiling the present moment mindfully. We live everyday, but how many of us actually have the ability to experience what life is really presenting to us? What’s more, accept it?

By learning to let go and move on from the past we choose to cling on during difficult times nor fret about the unforeseeable future, we can choose to be aware of the what’s happening now, in this moment can actually bring us peace and harmony to our lives.

6) You Won’t Be Punished for Your Anger, Only BY It

Sometimes, we let anger get to us. We may find it impossible to contain our bottled up feelings, the anger we’ve been contemplating, the emotions we kept to ourselves, all come out at once and all of these lead to regret.

As a result, we find ourselves speaking or behaving in a defensive/aggressive manner to another person and quite often it’s done in an attempt to control or dominate a given situation.

The next time you feel angry, don’t react. Step back from the situation and view the true reasoning or root cause of this anger. Is it worth it? Are my actions going to cause me a lifetime of regret?

This can be a very challenging task, especially if someone has upset you, or behaved aggressively towards you. But when you take control of your thoughts and emotions, you can change the way you look at the situation. It’s because we’re frustrated and hurt that we’re unable to control another person actions towards us.

We’re unable to control the things that happen to us, but we can control how we react to them.

7)Be Satisfied with Who You Are While Working Towards Who You Want to Be

By developing an unshaken level of self-confidence, you’ll find yourself having the willpower and dedication to achieve anything you believe in. You’ll also be able to recognise and enjoy your achievements. That, in turn, can inspire you to build on your success. The momentum created by self-confidence is surely hard to beat.

Don’t beat yourself up by thinking about all the things you still have not achieve in your life. Rather, be satisfied with who you are and how being yourself have led you to where you are today. Find self-motivation to continue to pursue your dreams everyday.

Self-motivation is the force that keeps pushing us to go on – it’s our internal drive to achieve, produce, develop and keep moving forward. When you think you’re ready to quit something, or you just don’t know how to start, your self-motivation is what pushes you to go on.

With self-motivation, you’ll learn and grow – regardless of the specific situation. That’s why it’s such a fundamental tool for reaching your goals, achieving your dreams, and succeeding in this journey we call, life.

8) To Go Against Your Beliefs, Is Dishonesty

Why are you doing what you do everyday?

When you stand by your beliefs, you’re representing how you live and your identify.

We can’t build and feed our soul if we try to please others or spend our time looking over other people’s shoulders, second-guessing their intent, and unravelling the facts from the falsehoods.

Don’t live your life on falsity. Follow your heart, do what other people aren’t doing so you can achieve what most people won’t. Stay mindful and never be swayed by other people’s decisions and words.

9) Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff

Some people take life’s small slights and setbacks with a shrug, while others freak out, blow up or fly off the proverbial handle in a loud huff or with silent seething. Which one are you?

This may have happened to us whereby the things we plan or thought should happen, doesn’t always work out the way we want them to.

And it’s always for the best. The best moments in life are usually those that come unexpectedly. You need to believe that things will always work out in the end. Relax, and let things flow naturally. Live in the moment, stay in the moment and love every bit of it!